Fashion technology has come to represent a huge transition from traditional fashion. In its simplest terms, fashion technology denotes innovative technologies leveraged in material procurement and fashion design and their applications in fashion manufacturing, retail, and procurement processes.
The rise of the digital consumer has profoundly supplemented emerging trends in fashion technology. The digital consumer buys, sells, and interacts with products and merchandise online. The faster penetration and interoperability of the internet in developing economies has aided the faster adoption of fashion technology in developed and developing economies.
Consumer Mindset in Fashion Technology
To understand the mindset of consumers in purchase decisions, it is equally important to understand the technology acceptance model that explains how consumers come to accept and use technology. The TAM model posits that when users are presented with a new technology, two fundamental factors determine whether they will use it or not.
The first was perceived usefulness, which denotes the degree to which a person believes that using a particular product will improve his or her job performance levels. This means that digital consumers often look at the impact of fashion technology that will influence their image, likeness, and other variables like financial returns (mostly for digital fashion entrepreneurs).
The second factor influencing technology adoption is the perceived ease of use. This refers to the degree to which consumers believe that using a particular product would be free from effort. The emergence of exciting developments like 3-D technology, virtual reality, and augmented reality provide a visual representation of fashion apparel and materials, thus influencing ease of “use” of fashion technology by digital consumers.
Therefore, the rapid and widespread adoption of fashion technology follows the inherent characteristics and traits of fashion technology in responding to the ever-changing needs of people – and its ability to be easily used.
How Digital Trends Shape Fashion Technology
Artificial Intelligence
In the recent past, brands have been using artificial intelligence to analyze data, improve the customer-shopping experience, forecast trends, and boost sales. Touchscreens and chatbots are being used to customize customer products and improve shopping experiences. In an ever-changing landscape like fashion technology, machine learning algorithms are being used to estimate costs and inventories to improve service efficiency and reduce waste.
Novel Fabrics
Novel fabrics are inarguably the future of fashion technology and another trend through which designers can set themselves apart and appeal sustainably. Statistics point to the fact that eco-leather is a less sustainable option. Therefore, startup brands like Modern Meadow are stepping up by manufacturing lab-grown leather without harming animals. The latest developments in printed objects that continuously change color is a system designed by MIT researchers known as Color Fab 3D. This system prints 3D objects with inks that change color when exposed to certain UV wavelengths. The first fashion item produced by novel fabrics was a ring that can be programmed into customizable colors.
Internet of Things
The internet of things denotes a network of objects that are embedded with technology to enable the connection and exchange of data signals over an internet connection. The internet of things is the most exciting and emerging technological growth in the fashion sector. Year on year, fashion evolves to reflect the present realities of modern societies. From the use of new and exciting fabrics to a greater emphasis on comfort, the fashion industry has evolved and responded to the ever-changing needs of contemporary work.
Exciting developments in wearable and apparel technology have enabled fashion technology to address different fashion needs in terms of image, representation, fashion selection, and retailing. In revolutionizing the face of fashion technology, the internet of things enables information sharing, data sharing, inventory management, and increased productivity and efficiency.
Mobile Commerce
Mobile technology is evolving exponentially. From smart wallets to Insta shopping, mobile commerce has emerged as the ultimate tech tool. Mobile commerce has not only affected our everyday lives but has become the fastest-growing sector in e-commerce today. Insider Intelligence predicts that mobile commerce will reach $284 billion, or approximately 45% of the US e-commerce, by 2021.
Digital wallets like Android Pay and Apple Pay are constantly evolving with facial recognition and fingerprint and poised to become the preferred payment option for all retail purchases. Fashion technology is likely to benefit tremendously as more consumers undertake serious developments in the design, manufacturing, marketing, and retailing of fashion in mobile.
Virtual and Augmented Reality
Blending the online and physical retail worlds has been one of the most exciting applications of virtual reality. This is ultimately true in digital fashion. Trying out apparel of different sizes, textures, and patterns has been one of the most widespread applications of virtual reality. This gives a greater accuracy thanks to the customized measurement application; customers can now buy products they feel they have already tried on.
3D Printing
Since the advent of 3D printers, small and big apparel brands have been exploring the possibilities for on-demand mass production. 3D promises new avenues for sustainability, creativity, and customization. Indeed, fashion brands are endorsing 3D in their 2021 collections – from full looks to accessories. Despite the fact that 3D prints take many hours to create and customize, they provide less waste and prove as far less labor-intensive than contemporary fashion design undertakings. Indeed, printing garments on-demand using 3D printers is estimated to reduce waste by a whopping 35%. The 3D printing minimal waste approach provides valuable insight in reshaping the manufacturing landscape and aligning it with a sustainable environmental and social focus.
How Digitalax is Liberating Fashion and Gaming
The future of digital fashion looks promising with discoveries in virtual reality and computing. In response to foreseeable demands of digital fashion solutions, Digitalax has emerged as the first digital fashion brand in the NFT marketplace. The premise of Digitalax is pinned on liberating fashion and gaming with mod culture. Players like Digitalax believe that the future of digital fashion is bright and join in this new reality with diverse solutions in digital fashion content, interoperable 3D file formats, and dedicated esports platforms for developers, gamers, designers, and casual players.
Digitalax makes it easy for you to find and collect digital fashion NFTs, all designed by a global network of professional designers. In liberating gaming, Digitalax’s custom esports program, ESPA, provides users direct entry into indie games where amateur and pro gamers earn a living without losing their love for the game. These, among many others, represent developments that Digitalax is pursuing in a bid to liberate fashion and gaming with modern culture.
The Future of Fashion Technology
Sustainability is becoming a strategic focus in fashion technology. For instance, companies are now buying second-hand clothes through thrift shops and consignments in a move to reduce energy usage in manufacturing. Indeed, many emerging brands in the apparel sector are making strategic developments to align with this new change in consumer behavior.
For instance, brands like Cuyana are consistently urging their buyers to purchase fewer but more quality products. Minnesota-based Hackwith Design House is designing and manufacturing garments out of deadstock fabric piles. Oakland’s Only Child hand makes its apparel and clothing on order and in small quantities. Looking at these exciting developments, we can see that sustainability as a concept is becoming of central importance to fashion technology.
Digital media technology represents another classic addition to fashion technology. Digital media improve customer experience, honest customer service, and improve inbound traffic. In addition, digital media has shaped traditional advertising by providing new and improved marketing and advertising capabilities. For clothing and apparel brands, digital media leads to effective brand recognition and improved brand awareness. In the long-term, this leads to brand loyalty and customer engagement as customers become aware of digital fashion.
The rise of digital media predicts two things. First, it will change how digital consumers perceive fashion, and secondly, it will improve adoption as people become cognizant of the inherent advantages of fashion technology. However, as it stands, one thing remains: enterprises and entrepreneurs must adapt with changing tides, lest they become victims of a sweeping change.
What do you think are other digital trends for fashion technology?
